You can't escape Death <Frans>

CHAPTER 27: Her Conscience

The faint fragrance of flowers and life once again envelops within my skull. Inhaling for what seemed like the first time, I lied there on the marble tile, my limbs scattered much like the red rose petals around me. In that moment, I was nothing but an old ragdoll the children played with, leaving it behind once they grow older. Imagination leaves one's mind as they do progress in life; my dull eyes only showed the lack of vibrance and inspiration that did rest upon the tips of my weary fingertips.

Though mimicking nothing but a worthless doll, my limbs remained just as heavy as they did in the hospital, and my lungs remained weighed down, as if submerged deep within the depths of an underwater trench. My chapped lips hung slightly parted, and my bagged eyes drew heavy once more. Laying there full of emptiness, my hair hung messily in my eyes, obscuring the wretched story they told of desperation and lies.

I couldn't move. Making myself vulnerable, I couldn't stand even if someone were to come and hold me at gunpoint. It was felt like all of the energy had left my body; all of the Life had been taken away with a single press of a button.

I could feel the placid breeze of the beautiful air, as the place seemed to calm me in what seemed as my last moments. The rose petals scattered away from me, dancing away with the mellow thoughts of my crippled imagination. They fizzled away, ever so slightly, gently fading away from their vivid shade of deep red, to the monochrome shade of gray and black. Turning to dust, the particles flew away, just as tenderly as the petals themselves did. It was almost just as captivating to see the life of the precious, little flower wither away just as myself.

I could only hear my own thoughts, as I heard the mild piano playing in the background once more as I did within the hospital room.

I exhaled, moving my eyes towards the ceiling, only to see the grand concave architecture of the chapel I lied in. Decorated with the elaborate stained glass rounding the surface and exterior, I could see the angles of both Life and Death, embedded within the walls, telling of a story. A story that aligned inside of my head now, foretelling of the fate of the balance.

I could now realize the secrets that were being kept from me, from Life and Death. The only thing that stuck me as ironic, was Death himself standing in front of me, bowing down, as he clenched his great scythe. His blackened wings of corruption were spread before me, and it seemed as if he had slowed down, molting a few feathers, as one landed next to my dying face.

The angels told of a story. A great chaos would erupt, and Life would fall. She would meet her fatality, and yet another would obtain her soul, mortal or immortal. Had I been bestowed with this curse of everlasting life? Why did it seem like I was on the edge of having everything taken from me?

Closing my eyes, and opening them once more, Death was no longer bowing, but standing in my presence. The period of time within my eyes being held open only grew shorter every time I re-opened them. A repeated process as the cloaked figure approached me even closer than before.

I remained trapped within my own conscience, unable to plead for my own Life, as the angel of Death looked me inside of eyes of anguish. The forever daylight of the antiquated church's windows seemed to dim around me, as the night quickly approached behind the setting sun. The faint tapping of rain against the window sill calmed my quickening thoughts as a sense of serenity swept over the absence of my beating heart.

Had I already succumbed to the inevitable feeling of Death? My heart was no longer beating, as I heard a distant splintering of wood in the background.

"It is not your time yet, my child." A restful whisper echoed within the avarice of my mind. Had it always been this dark in this place? Had the corruption reached here as well? "I can help you, however, I may have to be lain to rest for the rest of my time." Her voice was soft and maternal, as her words laced themselves around my arms and legs within the darkness. "I am sorry we never got a chance to formally meet." Her voice held a tint of sorrow within it, repressing her melancholy emotions, I could feel her heartbreaking smile gazing upon my fallen body. "Maybe in our next life, we shall meet again, not under such unfortunate circumstances."

My eyes attempted to look around to find where she was coming from, however, it seemed as if my eyes were sewn shut in the process of me closing them. Trying to ask who this maiden was, I only felt the spirit of someone held close within my soul there right in front of me. "You mustn't speak, my child." The woman said. "I am not alone. She will find you."

I could feel her kindness and her warmth gracefully touching my body ever so slightly, as a feeling of nostalgia consumed my entire being. It had felt like she was apart of me; a missing piece I had longed searched for in my life. This sensation allowed me to regain a part of my strength—a will to live the last droplet of life this woman provided me. She provided the gift of Life within the palms of her hands in that very second.

"I must go now. I have done all that I can." She said, as I felt her delicate hands reach for my own, pulling me up atop of my feet. "And please, if you may," Feeling her grip slip away, I opened my eyes to the shroud of darkness that was my own faded imagination within the midst of the night. "Give Sans my regards, would you not?" For she was gone, faded away within the blackness of my heart and soul to protect me alone.

"Mother..?" I asked to the darkness that surrounded me, reaching into the emptiness with an elongated touch, hoping that she might still be there. My voice was quiet, nothing but a whisper compared to the deafening silence of my barren mind. Extending my arm, I could see the pale hand of her touch, her palm up to the ceiling of no return, awaiting my own grasp. "Are you there..?" I whispered yet again, trying to see the rest of her body.

She was unusually pale, placing my hand into hers ever so slightly, her delicate hands transforming before my glossy eyes. Clutching my wrist harshly, her nails grew to a sharpened, hideous being, as the entropy inside of her blossomed just as the roses inside of my weeping mind.

"I found you" She sang, as her voice, no longer the same as before. The voice of a corrupted child, drowning in the tears of her own pity. I gasped, as she pulled me into the darkness with her, away from the only light I knew, with an echoing giggle of amusement. "There is no mother left in this world anymore." Her malicious words destroyed my every thought, as I sunk into the realms of insanity.

"Be careful who you trust." She grinned, as the entity in front of me was not the same woman as before. A demon of nature, her maleficent intentions were seen just from the aura of her own demonic figure. She was no longer the little girl she once used to be—the one I saw in someone else's memories.

She laughed manically, hatred and anarchy rapidly degrading everything else around me. A blackened aura of sorrow and chaos. Disarray and madness. Confusion and turmoil.

It was arguably the worst feeling I had ever felt, as I let out a scream of agonizing pain and anguish. I begged for her to stop, as her words only ripped the pieces of me the other woman only had just mended back together.

The worst part about it? It felt all too familiar to be a stranger of this sense of madness. It was almost unbearable to handle, as she wrapped her warped body around mine, using a tangle of lies and mistrust as her puppet strings around her fingers.

I wanted it to stop.

The droplet of life I had previously experienced had disappeared. I wanted to end it all, as the demon's strings suffocated me of my freedom to live. "You can't trust that comedian." She said, her voice held the anguish of a thousand tortured souls. "Just ask him what he did to your dear friend." She smiled.